When a teenager had her prized bike stolen while on her paper round, her dad had a novel idea.

He daubed the scene of the crime, Station Road in Rainham, with thick yellow graffiti saying “BIKE STOLEN HERE”.

But Roger Langley, 55, said he had only used biodegradable paint which the rain would wash away.

The Otterham Quay Lane resident said: “I’m a quartermaster for Upchurch Scouts and we use it for our fireworks display, so we still had some knocking about.

"You see enough lost cat posters on lamp posts and I figured it’s no worse than that.

“When the police came round after we reported it stolen they said it might be worth us cleaning it off.

“I believe the council’s now been round and taken the paint off but I haven’t heard from them directly.

“Sometimes graffiti is a bit of an eyesore, but hopefully people will agree it was for the public good.”

The retired railway signal engineer was shocked when daughter Isobel, 17, had her bike stolen at 7.30am on Saturday, June 23.

The Rainham Girls student left it propped up against a front garden for less than five minutes while she delivered a newspaper on foot.

Her dad, who went out with his pot of paint the same day, said it was a Giant brand purple and silver mountain bike worth about £400.

The dad-of-two has since bought Isobel a new bike - but has not had any calls concerning the stolen one, despite his mobile phone number being plastered across the road.